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Went to Paul Stambaugh’s Fly ‘Em If You Got ‘Em hangar party this afternoon at Ann Arbor (KARB) with Cole and Ella. The whole airport community shows up each year for barbeque and some bring airplanes. There’s usually at least a Stearman and several others and Paul likes to fly his Pitts for the gathering.

A shot of the crowd. It’s usually a little more spread out, but it rained on and off throughout the afternoon and everybody pretty much kept to the hangar itself. Made for a more intimate setting with lots of folks in close proximity.

Cole and Ella found a spot next to Steve’s biplane and grazed on the goodies all afternoon. The food was unusually good this year and someone bade perhaps the best baked beans I’ve ever eaten. Paul had lots of pork, hanburgers, and hot dogs on the roaster and the pulled pork was outstanding.

Before too long, Paul filled up the smoke oil tank on the Pitts and taxied out fo give us a demo. A high-performance take-off to an inverted downwind, then three passes, including a this high-speed pass.

The Stearman showed up just as we were leaving, but I managed to run back to the runway and grab this shot of it just as it was landing. It’s a beautiful aircraft and I wish that we had had more time to go look at it up close. But it was raining pretty well and I already had the kids in the car.

Many thanks to Paul and Steve for throwing this party every year. It’s nice to get back to Ann Arbor every now and then.

If you’re a non-pilot or just beginning and have yet to really feel at home at your airport, find a way to get invited to a hangar party or two. It’s the single best way to network and meet new friends on the field!

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Nothing quite like a hangar party on a nearly perfect September day! Paul Stambaugh (whom you’ll remember from the Airspeed episode “Lunch with Aerobatic Pilot Paul Stambaugh” (listen at http://media.libsyn.com/media/airspeed/AirspeedStambaughLong.mp3) and another hangar renter at Ann Arbor Municipal Airport (KARB) again hosted their “Fly “em If You Got ‘Em” hangar party on September 15. I took Cole and Ella to the last one two years ago and brought them again this time.

Paul got out his Pitts “Psycho Therapy” and, together with another gentleman who brough along a WWII Navy trainer named California Girl (the designation of which escapes me – If you recognize it, please e-mail me at steve@airspeedonline.com), treated us to a couple of cool passes. The hangar is located at the departure end of Runway 24 (3,500′ x 75′ asphalt) so we could see departures and arrivals at the end of the hangar row. Last time, Runway 6 was active so we saw climbouts.

This shot is of Paul’s high-speed pass.

Here’s California Girl during one of two formation passes that the two aircraft did. She led the formation.

The first of two shots of one of the formation passes. Although Paul in the Pitts was well behind California Girl and there’s some forced perspective here, the size difference is reasonably well portrayed.

My favorite shot ot the day. This was just after the previous picture when Paul in the Pitts had just settled into train with California Girl. Nice clouds and the lighting from in front of the aircraft here really worked well.